ONLINE INFORMATIONmany AFC publications, informa tion about AFC projects, multi media presentations...

The American Folklife Center was created in 1976 by the US Congress to ldquopreserve and present American folkliferdquo through proshygrams of research documentation archival preservation reference sershyvice live performance exhibition publication and training The Center incorporates the Archive of Folk Culture which was established in the Music Division of the Library of Congress in 1928 and is now one of the largest collections of ethnoshyg r a p h i c material from the United States and around the world

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Librarian Appointees Tom Rankin Chair North Carolina

Jane Beck Vice-chair VermontNorma Cantuacute Texas

Kojo Nnamdi District of ColumbiaCongressional Appointees

Daniel Botkin CaliforniaMickey Hart California

Dennis Holub South DakotaWilliam L Kinney Jr South Carolina

Marlene Meyerson New MexicoPresidential Appointees

Fran Mainella Director National Park Service

Sonya E Medina Assistant Director ofProjects Office of the First Lady

The White HouseLisette M Mondello

Assistant Secretary for Public andGovernmental Affairs

Department of Veterans AffairsEx Officio Members

James H Billington Librarian ofCongress

Lawrence M Small Secretary of theSmithsonian InstitutionDana Gioia Chairman

National Endowment for the ArtsBruce Cole Chairman NationalEndowment for the Humanities

Bill Ivey PresidentAmerican Folklore Society

Philip V Bohlman PresidentSociety for EthnomusicologyPeggy A Bulger Director

American Folklife CenterJudith McCulloh Emerita Illinois

ONLINE INFORMATIONRESOURCES

The American Folklife Centerrsquo s Website provides full texts of many AFC publications informashytion about AFC projects multishymedia presentations of selected collections links to Web re s o u rc e s on ethnography and announceshyments of upcoming events The a d d ress for the home page is h t t p w w w l o c g o v f o l k l i f e A n index of the sitersquos contents is available at h t t p w w w l o c g ov f o l k l i f ea z - i n d e x h t m l

The Website for The Ve t e r a n s History Project p rovides an o v e rview of the project an online ldquokitrdquo for participants re c o rding oral histories of veterans and a brief p resentation of some examples of v i d e o - and audio-re c o rdings of vetshyeransrsquo stories The address is h t t p w w w l o c g o v v e t s

The Folkline Information Sershyvice is a cooperative announceshyment program of the A m e r i c a n F o l k l o re Society and the A m e r i-can Folklife Center It is available only on the American Folklore Societyrsquos server w w w a f s n e t o r g The service provides timely inforshymation on the field of folklore and folklife including training and p rofessional opportunities and news items of national intere s t

STAFF

Administration Peggy A Bulger Director

Gene Berry Assistant to the DirectorDoris Craig Administrative Assistant

Michael Taft Head Archive of Folk CultureDavid A Taylor HeadResearch and Programs

Research and Programs Ilana Harlow Folklife Specialist

Guha Shankar Folklife Specialist Processing and Cataloging

Sarah Bradley-Leighton Processing Technician

Catherine Hiebert Kerst ArchivistMaggie Kruesi Cataloger

Judy Ng Processing TechnicianValda Morris Processing Technician

Marcia Segal ArchivistNora Yeh Archivist Coordinator

Publications Stephen D Winick Editor

Public Events Theadocia Austen Coordinator

Reference Jennifer A Cutting Folklife Specialist

Judith A Gray Folklife SpecialistCoordinator

Stephanie A Hall Automation SpecialistTodd Harvey Folklife Specialist

Ann Hoog Folklife SpecialistAudio Engineering

Matthew Barton Audio Engineer Jonathan Gold Audio Technician

Digital Conversion John Barton Specialist

Reference Service Tel 202 707ndash5510Fax 202 707ndash2076

E-mail folklifelocgovVeterans History Project

Bob Patrick Acting DirectorPeter T Bartis Senior Program Officer

Anneliesa Clump BehrendPublic Affairs Specialist

Jeffrey Lofton Public Affairs SpecialistDebra Murphy Special Assistant

Sarah Rouse Senior Program OfficerTimothy Schurtter Program Officer

Eileen Simon Archivist

C ov e r R everend John We s l ey Roberts one of three founders of the R o b e rt s Borders Mauney Howe l l Briggs and Related Families reunion This portrait was brought to the 100th reunion in 2005 as a treasured family object Photo Stephen Winick Source American Folklife Center

FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS

Stephen D Winick EditorDavid A Taylor Editorial Advisor

Sheryle Shears DesignerPeggy Pixley Production

Folklife Center News publishes arshyticles on the programs and activshyities of the American Folklife Censhyt e r as well as other articles on traditional expressive culture It is available free of charge from the Library of Congress A m e r i c a n Folklife Center 101 Independence Avenue SE Washington DC 20540ndash4610 Folklife Center News does not publish announcements f rom other institutions or re v i e w s of books from publishers other than the Library of Congre s s Readers who would like to comshyment on Center activities or newsletter articles may addre s s their remarks to the editor

Folklife Center News 2

Wersquove Come This Far by FaithAn African-American Family Reunion

Turns One Hundred

Librarian of Congress James H Billington dined with Vivian Hewitt who is a member of the reunion family a special collections librarian and a long-time acquaintance of Dr Billington Photo Stephen Winick Source American Folklife Center

By Stephen Winick

From August 4 to 7 2005 a team ofethnographers from the Library of C o n g ress was accorded the rare opportunity to attend and docushyment an African-American familyreunion that has been celebrated annually for a hundred years Started by freed slaves We s l e y Mauney John Wesley Roberts andEli Borders Roberts in 1906 the Roberts Borders Mauney Howell Briggs and Related Families re shyunion reached its century mark with the one hundredth reunion in 2005 The reunion was held in Charlotte and Shelby North Caroshylina and drew approximately fiveh u n d red family members to its various events The Library of

Fall 2005

Congress team attended four days of reunion events conducted intershyviews and gathered photographicaudio and video documentation that will enter the permanent colshylections of the A rchive of Folk Culture

The familyrsquos connections to the Library of Congress and the Amershyican Folklife Center (AFC) date back to the Local Legacies projectof 2000 for which individual memshybers of Congress suggested events and traditions in their districts to be documented for AFC by localresidents Representative Melvin L Watt who represents the twelfth district of North Carolina and serves as chair of the CongressionalBlack Caucus is a member of this extended family and originally

submitted documentation of the reunion in 2000 Remembering this connection reunion president JeanHumphrey invited the Librarian of Congress Dr James H Billington to give an address at their hunshydredth reunion Dr Billington inturn suggested that a team from the American Folklife Center acshycompany him to document the reunion The team consisted of folklorists Stephen Winick and Catherine Hiebert Kerst (re s p e cshytively writer-editor and archivist at AFC) writer-editor Josephus Nelshyson from the Office of the Librarshyian and audiovisual technician Jonathan Gold of AFC The team was aided in all its endeavors byreunion president Jean Humphrey who prevailed upon the committee

3

After the reunion AFC director Peggy Bulger (r) and Stephen Winick (l) presentshyed Congressman Watt with a DVD copy of his interview with Dr Billington Photo David Taylor Source American Folklife Center

and the wider family to help us document the event

It quickly became apparent to the Library of Congress team that this large extended family has a better sense than most of its historyand its future For example it is common for Roberts Borders and Mauney teenagers to know the names of their gre a t - g re a t - g re a t shygreat-grandmother and six great-great-great-great auntsmdashthe sort of deep genealogical knowledge very few people possess The family haspreserved two written narratives from patriarchs born into slavery transcribed them and published them in small editions for the famshyilyrsquos use

The family has preserved hisshytory both oral and written for genshyerations ldquoI started going to familyreunions when I was one or probshyably even younger than thatrdquo Congressman Watt told Dr Billing-ton in an interview collected at the reunion ldquoEvery reunion Irsquove ever been to there is a reading of the oral history or a presentation of the oral history And then thirty yearsago or so there started to be more of an emphasis on writing that hisshytory down and documenting it and re s e a rching it and not just passingit down from generation to generashytion through the oral processrdquo

The familyrsquos history was first recorded early in the twentieth censhy

tury by Eli Borders Roberts (1840ndash 1933) Wesley Mauney (1849ndash1939)and John Wesley Roberts (1862ndash 1951) all of whom had been born into slavery Wesley Mauney and John Wesley Roberts were particushylarly important in that they left written accounts of their lives durshying and immediately after slavery Roberts was emancipated as a young child became an educated m i n i s t e r and founded several churches He wrote his own acshycount in a large ledger book whichsurvives in the family today Roberts also took dictation from Wesley Mauney who had grown up in slavery without the benefit ofeducation but who nonetheless became a successful businessman These early historical accounts have inspired contemporary geneshyalogists and editors within the famshyi l y including Donald Sumlar Leonard E Mauney and the late Sarah Stowe Williamson The result is a very complete account of the familyrsquos history

The dominant account among most family members traces theprimary branches of the family to the ldquoseven sistersrdquo all of whom were daughters of a single matrishyarch whose slave name was Sylvia or Silvy Fulenwider and whose married name was Roberts A c c o rding to Wesley Mauneyrsquos 1933 narrative known to the famishy

ly (after Mauneyrsquos own descripshytion) as the ldquoPenPicturerdquo the s ev en s i s ter smdash o f w ho m Mauneyrsquos mother was onemdash ldquohad over one hundred children that were sold in slave times and mygrated [sic] since all over this countryrdquo Mauney himself just one of those hundred children had over one hundred descenshydants himself in 1906 when he and his two cousins founded the reunion This gives a sense ofhow large and widespread the family already was in the early part of the century

Still there are disputes amongvarious members and branches of the family One alternate his-t o r y recounted to us by Rev Sidney Roberts a reunion comshymittee member holds that Silvy Fulenwider was not enslaved in Africa In this account she was a kingrsquos daughter sent to Americaby her tribe the Fulani of Guinea as an ethnographer c h a rged with learning about

American civilization and culture Once she arrived here as a free woman she was enslaved and sold to Roberts If this is true it is doushybly appropriate that her descenshydants should be visited by ethnogshyraphers from the American Folklife Center

While family members mayhave divergent opinions about the familyrsquos origins there is no quesshytion that the familyrsquos history is one of hard work faith and success Their motto reflects this ldquoWersquove Come This Far by Faithrdquo The Library of Congress team spoke with family members young andold and all indicated that the hisshytory of achievement within the family was both an inspiration and a challenge to each succeeding genshyeration providing success stories and role models for every family member For Congressman Watt the model is his great-grandfatherWesley Mauney ldquoPeriodically when I reach a fork in the road when I get writerrsquos block or speakshyerrsquos block one of the first places I go is to Wesley Mauneyrsquos Pen-Picture and just read itrdquo he told us ldquoInevitably something will come out of that PenPicture that stimulates an idea gets me started again reinvigorates merdquo

For other family members a difshyferent ancestor might be the source


of inspiration Marcia Foster Boyda Methodist minister recalled her own experience ldquoWhen I was called to ministry over thirty years ago I didnrsquot know any women ministers And my grandmother Isabelle Roberts Ramseur told me that therersquos Aunt Ida Therersquos Aunt Ida Robertsrdquo Indeed Ida E Roberts the wife of re u n i o n founder John Wesley Roberts was a rare example of a nineteenth-censhytury African-American woman minister Her husband wrote of her in 1933 ldquoO my wife She was a good gospel preacher and one of the first woman preachers in thispart of the state and people far and near white and colshyored came to hear her preachrdquo

In a large extendshyed family like this one there is no shortage of data tocollect and the team from the Library of Congress b rought back a wealth of materials twenty-eight oral history interviews ten hours of speechshyes performances and family events on digital video and copies of eightdocuments of famishyly history including narratives of former slaves

Among the most noteworthy of the speeches and other events were the opening and closing addresses given by Congressman Watt andhis brother Dr Graham Watt and the address given by Dr Billington The Congressman stressed family history and the connection to the past telling the stories of Silvy Fulenwider and of Wesley Mauney and describing his motherrsquos own childhood experience Dr Wa t t stressed the familyrsquos future calling for family members to work hard for positive social change repeatshying the charge that ldquobusiness asusual is no longer acceptable when wickedness abounds and selfishshyness reignsrdquo And the Librarian of C o n g ress praised the family for taking good care of its history ldquoThis is a unique thingrdquo he said ldquoItrsquos a hundred years of a broad inclusive extended family a

Fall 2005

wonderful American story of accomplishment and the bonding of people together over a long perishyod of time Itrsquos a story that hasnrsquot been told often enough in the African-American experiencerdquo The events documented by AFC also included an art exhibit a talshyent show and a prayer service

The oral history interviews were full of memorable stories told by l i v e l y intelligent and accomshyplished family members The teamspoke with ministers such as Reverend Boyd professionals such as Dr Watt Patricia Bates and Patricia Mauney and young peoshyple such as Akintoye Moses and

James Bradford Humphre y In addition we spoke with many family elders including Albertine F o s t e r Kenneth Norton and Vivian Hewitt

One of the fascinating aspects of the familyrsquos history is often unsposhyken but generally acknowledgedby family members the imporshytance of white ancestors to the famshyilyrsquos heritage This came out particshyularly strongly in an interview conshyducted by Josephus Nelson in which Leonard Mauney recounted his experiences as a young man Mauney who has very light skinand straight hair was often able to ldquopassrdquo for white In the days of s e g regation he used this to his own advantage and to the advanshytage of the black community When African-Americans were barre d from earning a master electricianrsquos license for example he did so by

ldquojumping the color linerdquo But afterhe earned his license he jumped right back using it to provide elecshytrical contracting to the black comshym u n i t y ldquoPeople talk about the integration of Charlotte in the sixshytiesrdquo he told Nelson ldquoI integrated Charlotte before thatrdquo

Congressman Watt believes thatthe family might benefit fro m re s e a rching its white ancestors more fully ldquoI think a fascinating story from our perspective wouldbe to go and find those Mauney and Borders and Roberts plantashytion owners and trace them in parshyallel to usrdquo he told Dr Billingtonldquo[We could] see whether theyrsquove

kept a family histoshyry and tradition alive and how it merges with or parshyallels our family history I think mayshybe one or two of myuncles have gone and tried to sit down with some of the white plantationownersrsquo heirs and tried to make that co nn ec t ion but thatrsquos a harder conshynection to make t h e rersquos a lot of denial going on thererdquo

Race relations in general was an important topic in many interviews

Catherine Kerst recalls an intershyview with Max Howell ldquoIt was poignant to hear him talk so movshyingly about discovering racial biasin the world outside of his home c o m m u n i t yrdquo she said ldquoHe told about driving from his home in Cleveland County North Carolinato Chicago each summer to visit his brother and to find work to help pay for school in the fall The hardshyest part was the drive from NorthCarolinamdashwhere he knew where and with whom he could feel comshyfortable and be safemdashto Chicago En route there was no place to restor relax no place to sleep or eat and at best a sign that read lsquoGo around to the backrsquo It was a chillshying narrative that he told in an understated way a quiet memory that spoke volumesrdquo

Such issues were not the only subjects of discussion however In

This ledger book containing the life history of reunion founder John Wesley Roberts was brought to the reunion as a cherished piece of family history Photo Stephen Winick Source American Folklife Center

5

Donald Sumlar (l) a member of the Roberts B o rd e rs M a u n ey H ow e l l B r i ggs and Related Fa m i l i e s prepares and maintains ge n e a l o g i c a l documents on the familiesrsquo history His reports were included in the 2000 Local Legacies collecshytion His 2005 update was not quite ready at the time of the August reunion so he visited the AFC on Halloween to deliver them personally Stephen W i n i ck and Jennifer Cutting dressed in their H a l l oween costumes spoke with Sumlar and accepted the documents on behalf of the Center Photo Guha Shankar Source American Folklife

Agnes Isabel MauneyGay The three are first cousins and all grand-c h i l d ren of We s l e y M a u n e y Jo n es a t eighty-nine the eldest of the cousins had been raised by Wesley and his wife Naomi and was able to give a firsthand account of her grandparents in their later years She r e c a l l e d W e s l e y Mauney as a stern but loveable figure and a s t rong role model Although he had high standards for his famishylyrsquos behavior he was careful not to pre-judgeothers For example despite his lack of forshymal education he was quite precise in his useof language and he expected his family to speak properly as well Jones recalled an incishydent in which too young to know better she laughed when a guest in her grandfashytherrsquos house spoke in a heavy dialect When the guest left her grandfather punishedher for making fun of a neighbor and she took this lesson to heart ldquoI have never forgotten it

tain a private high school for theAfrican-American community The school was so much a part of the family that she recalls an occasion on which she opened her yearbookand counted forty of her first cousins attending the academy in the same year Herron Congressshyman Wattrsquos mother recalled times when she and her cousins helped each other get through lifersquos diffishycult moments a topic that allowed her two cousins to participate aswell

In addition to the video footage and interviews the team brought back copies of several documentsMost important among them is the Roberts Borders Mauney Howell Briggs and Related Families Reunion Journal a beautiful souvenir book that is also a rich source of inforshymation It contains transcriptions of Wesley Mauneyrsquos PenPicture and John Wesley Robertsrsquos life hisshytory as well as memories photoshygraphs and information on the family The team also brought back C o n g ressman Wattrsquos pre p a re dremarks Graham Wattrsquos prepared remarks an exhibit catalog for a family art exhibit shown at the reunion a directory for contactshying family members a program for a prayer service that contains sevshyeral family biographies and a book of poetry by family members The audiotapes videotapes and d o cument s are s t i l l be ing processed but once this work is finished an important collection will be available to the public in the Folklife Center Reading Room Monday through Friday fro m 830 to 5

Center

one memorable interview I spoke with three women together Edythe Prudence Holland Jones Evelyn Mauney Watt Herron and

and I never made fun of anyone againrdquo

Gay recalled her days at the Lincoln Academy in Kings Moun-

The family assembled for photographs at the 2005 Reunionrsquos Saturday picnic Photo Stephen Winick Source American Folklife Center


AFC Field Recordings Come to Life inAndrea Friersonrsquos Soon of a Morninrsquo

By Jennifer Cutting

In an explosion of light sound andc o l o r some of the A m e r i c a n Folklife Centerrsquos (AFC) most important field recordings sprang to life on a New York City stage onSeptember 13 2005 The occasion was the opening night performshyance of Soon of a Morninrsquo a new musical based on Robert Sonkinrsquos 1941 field recordings of songs and speech from Geersquos Bend Alabama held in the AFCrsquos Archive of Folk Culture The musical was written by Andrea Frierson who in 2004 became the first artist and the first African-American woman to be selected for the Parsons Fund Aw a rd for Ethnography at the Library of Congress Friersonrsquos musical one of the New Yo r k Musical Theatre Festivalrsquos ldquoinvited productionsrdquo was performed six times during the festivalrsquos run at the Lion Theatre in New York City It is an excellent example of theinspiration that artists can derive from ethnographic collections

The story of Soon of a Morninrsquo began more than four years ago in the spring of 2001 Frierson (then F r i e r s o n - Toney) dropped by the Folklife Reading Room looking for something to write about She remembers ldquo I didnt really knowa lot about the American Folklife Center but I knew I wanted to hear singing that was honest and unpreshytentious sung from the heart inthe way that someone who is accustomed to being alone withmdash and humbled bymdashnature singsrdquo As it happened I was staffing theFolklife Reading Roomrsquos reference desk that day After hearing that Frierson was interested in African-American historical topics I immeshydiately suggested that she listen to Robert Sonkinrsquos 1941 field recordshyings from Geersquos Bend an impovershyished and geographically isolatedarea of southwestern Alabama that was visited by a documentary team sponsored by the Farm Securities Administration (FSA)

Sonkin (1911ndash1980) was a proshyfessor of public speaking who also

Carole Denise Jones and Bianca Jazzmine Ottley in a scene from Soon of a Morninrsquo Photo Carol R o s e gg S o u rc e Susan Sch u l shymann Publicity

undertook several important field trips for the Archive of FolkSong He visited Geersquos Bend to re c o rd sacred songs and also learned about local peoplersquos reactions to the FSA p ro j e c t (Another of Sonkinrsquos Collections is online at httpmemorylocgov a m m e m a f c t s h t m l t s h o m e h t m l ) What makes Sonkinrsquos Geersquos Bend collection particularly interesting is that he recorded in both the African-American and the white towns perched on opposite sides of the Alabama R i v e r which had divided the two communities for over 120 years On one side lived whitelandowners on the other shareshy

croppers who were descendents of slaves The power of these recordshyings was not lost on Frierson ldquoIwas so excited by what I saw in Arthur Rothsteinrsquos photographs and what I heard listening to the Robert Sonkin field recordings ofthe Geersquos Bend community that I immediately returned to New Yo r k got more clothes and prepared to extend my stay in DC by twoweeksmdashwhich is how long it took me to make a written transcript of the field re c o rd i n g s This became the source material for the musicalrdquo

Frierson was so captivated by the recordings that she continued to research the topic for three more years In November 2002 when thetiny community came to national attention with the mounting of the ldquoQuilts of Geersquos Bendrdquo exhibition at the Whitney Museum in NewYork Frierson found further inspishyration In 2003 she embarked on an expedition to Geersquos Bend in order to interview its present-day resishydents herself

Fall 2005 7

A sharecropperrsquos family at Geersquos Bend in 1939 Source Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Reproduction Number LCndashUSZ62ndash117125

In 2004 Frierson was awarded a fellowship from the A m e r i c a n Folklife Centerrsquos Parsons Fund for Ethnography in order to research and adapt the A f r i c a n - A m e r i c a n traditional music from the collecshytion into a theatrical production In a later interview she reflected on how the award helped her to get Soon of a Morninrsquo off the ground ldquoCertainly everyone with whom Ispeak is impressed by the fact that I am a Parsons Aw a rd Fellow And truthfully it gives my project credibility Unfortunately our colshylective cultural belief that lsquobigger is betterrsquo often causes us as Amershyicans to view [communities like Geersquos Bend] as lsquoinferiorrsquo in some way or less than valuable When in fact the determination to surshyvive and overcome adversity against all odds captures the veryessence of what it means to be an American The Parsons Fund Award helps to lsquolegitimizersquo in the publicrsquos eye the works it celebratesand serves to remind the world of the value of each and every block of our collective American quiltrdquo

Frierson likens the process of

creating the musical to piecing a quiltmdashwhich is of course one of the musicalrsquos themes ldquoOne lsquopatshyternrsquo was the characters another the events that led to the Gees Bend share c roppers becoming farm owners and another their superstitionsrdquo she explained ldquoInitially in listening and taking notes I paid as much attention to what the speaker didnrsquot say as what they did And often breathshying patterns stuttering andor nervous laughter was extre m e l y informative in terms of cre a t i n g c h a r a c t e r Some characters came directly from the field recordings onto the stage like Frank the son who was so full of hope and optishym i s m Others like the mother Sarah Mae ended up being a comshyposite of several of the Gees Bend quilters I met and interviewedrdquo

T h roughout the pro c e s s Frierson says the field recordings and photographs served as ldquoa grounding force rooted in authenshyticityrdquo Although most of the words and music in Friersonrsquos production were composed by Frierson hershyself the spirituals hollers chilshy

drenrsquos songs and other traditional music she heard in the Geersquos Bend recordings also found their wayinto the production as did some of the personalities she heard on Sonkinrsquos recordings and some of the images captured by A r t h u r Rothsteinrsquos camera

ldquoThere are quite a number of sacred songs I discovered from lisshytening to the field recordings of thepeople of Geersquos Bend and subseshyquently usedrdquo she said ldquoGame songs as well some recorded by the Lomaxes A great deal of thedialogue came from the field recordings as well In one case I built an entire scene around recordshyings I heard of everyones visit tothe new town doctor a scene filled with nuance as the tried and true folk remediesmdashand the women who administer themmdashclash head on with the nurse who practices western medicine and her anxiety over maintaining a sterile environshyment Arthur Rothsteinrsquos 1937 phoshytographs of the people of Gees Bend had a major influence on me as a writercreator and informed my concept for the piece overallrdquo


Frierson explained some of hercriteria for selecting songs fro m among the field recordings ldquoI had to first ask myself lsquowill this song illuminate the character Will it advance the plotrsquo For example there is a game song called lsquoAll Hidrsquo sung with all the innocence and playfulness one might expectHowever listen closer and the

between African-American musishycal traditions and the traditions of B ro a d w a y No stranger to the world of traditional music comshyposerinstrumentalist Vanaver is ap rofessor of World Music and Dance at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson New York and has recorded for such labels as

where I believe the best is yet tocomerdquo Frierson enthused ldquoMy litshyerary agents told me that they feel the piece could do very well regionally which is my belief aswell I think itrsquos quite possible that theatergoers in other parts of the country (outside of New York) are actually more likely to be receptive

to the story of Gees Bend farms lyrics paint a much darker pic-

Andrea Frierson Source Andrea Frierson

and in some cases more nostalshyt u re one filled with fear and gic for the era of the Roosevelt dread lsquoSix lsquolil horses in a stablersquo Administration and the New are frightened by the aggression Deal programs it implementedrdquo of a lsquoneighboringrsquo horse and in Also in attendance at the another verse the narrator stands opening night performance of idly by as her father is knocked Soon of a Morninrsquo was Richard down by a devilish presence For Nevins president of Shanachie this reason I decided to use this Entertainment home to ro o t s song in Soon of a Morninrsquo to illusshy music labels Shanachie and trate a pivotal event in Geersquos Yazoo ldquoThis musical shows how Bendrsquos history in a crude and the Library of Congre s s rsquo s violent attempt to settle on exist- Archive of Folk Culture can play ing debts the family of a a dramatic role not only in deceased cotton merchant who preservation but as an imporshyhad been lsquoadvancingrsquo the Negro tant wellspringmdasha source for tenant farmers prior to his death c reative workrdquo Nevins comshystormed through the town takshy mented ldquoJust as Aaron Copland ing farming tools seed food d rew on the A rchiversquos field and farming animalsmdashanything re c o rdings for the creation of that wasnrsquot nailed downmdashvirtushy contemporary classical works ally leaving the Gees Bend such as Rodeo herersquos an example farmers to starve In Soon of a of someone likewise drawing onMornin Patsy the young girl the Archiversquos resources to inspire sings lsquoAll Hidrsquo frightened and the creation of a new theatrical alone onstage caught in the work It was a joy to beholdrdquo chilling aftermath of the invashysion of the Gees Bend communi- Editorrsquos Note Arthur Roth-t y with nothing left but the stein (1915ndash1985) was the first empty sound of howling windrdquo

The process of composition waslargely completed by 2004 In the summer of that year the Kennedy Center chose Soon of a Morninrsquo as one of four new musicals to be feashytured in their annual ldquoPlay to the Stagerdquo theater festival where Frierson debuted two of her musishycalrsquos pieces on the Millennium Stage on September 5th The year between that first fledgling pershyformance and the full productionrsquos debut was a roller coaster of highhopes near misses disappointshyments and such harrowing cliffshyhangers as a producer pulling out two months before opening nightLuckily a new producer stepped forward and the play was ready for its September run

On stage the stylistic and i n s t rumental versatility of music directors Bill Vanaver and Andy Teirstein supported the musical s c o rersquos delicate balancing act

Fall 2005

Va n g u a rd Elektra Nonesuch Philo and Folkways Teirstein is a composer performer and teacher who has written scores for several PBS and BBC films and whose original musical theatre works have won him a Richard Rodgers Award and three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts During the production the duo played a host of instruments including banjo fiddle guitar harshymonica jewrsquos harp viola waterstick cajoacuten djembe and piano The resulting sound was so full that it could have been mistaken for an ensemble twice its size

By the end of its six-performshyance run Friersonrsquos new musical had garnered enthusiastic reviews as well as feature stories in Playbill and BroadwayWorldcom Photos from Soon of a Morninrsquo were promishynently featured in Time Out NY ldquoIn terms of mounting the show else-

photographer on the staff of the Farm Security A d m i n i s t r a t i o n (FSA) and visited Geersquos Bend with the FSA in 1937 His photos are not part of the Sonkin collection they were taken four years earlier thanSonkinrsquos visit However they comshyplement Sonkinrsquos recordings and show some of the people Sonkin spoke with The photographsalong with FSA photos of Geersquos Bend by other photographers in the same era form part of the Farm Security AdministrationndashOffice ofWar Information Photograph Colshylection in the Library of Congressrsquos Prints and Photographs Division Many of them can be viewed online at LCrsquos American Memory site http memorylocgovammen

9

ldquoTradition Runs Through It Environment and Recreationrdquo

Ninth Annual Field School for Cultural Documentation

Students and staff at the field school Front Row (l-r) Sharon Kerry Amy Newman Rachel Adams Middle row (l-r) Brenda Beza Lisa Tolliver Lisa Powell Robyn Patterson Raven Haymond (BYU Staff) Back row (l-r) Andy Jorgensen Divya Kumar Christina Bishop Steve Taylor John Murphy Not pictured are students Heidi Spann Jan Harris and Jason Thompson Photo Guha Shankar Source American Folklife Center

By Ilana Harlow

Just a few miles up the road fro mthe city of Provo Utah home of Brigham Young University (BYU) one suddenly finds oneself in a canyon replete with alpine scenerysnowcapped mountains waterfalls pine trees and a gushing sparkling r i v e r Provo Canyon is home to two resorts Robert Redfordrsquos re n o w n e d Sundance and a family camp called Aspen Grove A d d i t i o n a l l y there a re two century-old re s i d e n t i a l communities in the CanyonSpringdell and Wildwood

Driving along the roads that pass through the canyon one is struck by the sight of many clustersof friends and family members engaged in diverse re c re a t i o n a l activities tubing fly fishing mountain biking barbecuing andgroup dating (more on this later) Late into the night the landscape is dotted with campfires There is even an outdoor Sunday churchservice at Wildwood in summershytime ldquoYou canrsquot beat the architecshyture that God providedrdquo is how it was put by Wildwood re s i d e n t Scott Loveless when interviewed

by a team of AFC field school stushydents

Kristi Young curator of the Wilson Folklore Archives in the L Tom Perry Special Collections atthe BYU Library determined that the many social recreational and spiritual uses of Provo Canyon for a varied array of individuals andcommunities would be a rich topic of investigation during the American Folklife Centerrsquos (AFC) ninth annual field school AFC has developed a three-week intensive field school model and partners each year with an academic or culshytural institution to provide hands-on training in essential techniques for ethnographic fieldwork and to document aspects of local cultural communities in the process So itwas that from July 17 to August 6 2005 fifteen students from both the Provo area and elsewhere in the United States gathered at BYU forldquo Tradition Runs Through It E n v i ronment and Recre a t i o n rdquo They learned ethnographic docushymentation techniques including interviewing writing fieldnotes p h o t o g r a p h y and sound re c o rdshying as well as research ethics and they applied their new skills in documenting the cultural and physical landscapes of Pro v o Canyon The work done by these students over a three-week period paves the way for additional research by BYU students particishypating in the Utah Heritage Project (which is another joint venture ofthe AFC and BYU) over the next year

The field school was divided into two parts For the first tendays students had daylong classshyroom instruction For the next ten


days they conducted fieldwork and pre p a red final pre s e n t a t i o n s and an exhibit to which the comshymunity was invited The attenshydance at the final program wasstanding room only

Each student was assigned to one of five three-person fieldwork teams each of which documented a particular aspect of Pro v o Canyon The research topics were fly-fishing courtship canyon resishydential communities a well-known local family that has lived in the canyon for over one hundre d years and the changingphysical and demoshygraphic face of the canyon Each team was assigned a faculty advishys o r Staff listened to interview tapes and reviewed fieldnotes and photographs in ord e r to provide personal feedback that the stushydents could incorporate into their future fieldshywork endeavors Coshyd i rectors of the field school were Kristi Young of BYU and Helen CraDavid Taylor of A F C staff of thOther full-time faculty into Sprinincluded Ilana Harlow ferent atm

me Iand Guha Shankar of Shankar AFC and documenshy

tary photographer Rich Remsberg

After the field school had ended many students expressed an appreshyciation for the experiences they had been afforded and expressed their feeling that it would have a posishytive effect on their futures ldquoI loved my experience in field schoolrdquo wrote Christina Bishop of Utah ldquoI learned so much and it has actushyally sparked interest in furthering my education in this field of study I felt that the entire atmosphere was one of acceptance and openshyness and I really appreciated that I was impressed with everyonersquos dedication to their various projects and to their topics I learned verymuch from my instructors and found their insights to be invalushyablerdquo

ldquoI loved the schoolrdquo wrote AmyNewman of Utah ldquoIt has been the highlight of my education I learned so much that will help me in my careerrdquo

In an e-mail to field school faculshyt y student Stephen Taylor of Philadelphia wrote that the field school exceeded his expectations He described the development ofpersonal ties to Provo Canyon once he himself had experienced it with new friends ldquo I felt a deep conshynection with the enviro n m e n t Spaces that had never crossed my eyes or ears a month earlier now became important places in my liferdquo

gun of Springdell Utah addresses the stue field school ldquoThe sentinel portals [the gatgdell] when you go through them yoursquoosphere They allow me to come through a just feel a calmness in Springdellrdquo Ph

Source American Folklife Center

Fall 2005

And he elaborated upon his pershysonal learning experience

ldquoWhen it came to preparing us to go out in the field the demonshystrations hands-on training and other advice were invaluable when we were actually in peoples housshyes or back yards or shooting photos in the Provo Canyon When the course really came to life was when we were placed into teams and given a chance to use the lectures we attended the readings wed read and the hands-on trainingwed received to go out into that lsquofieldrsquo about which wed heard so much

ldquoMy group studied dating in theProvo Canyon The youngest peoshyple we interviewed were two sevshyenteen-year-old women going into their last year of high school whoexplained that they travel into the canyon with groups of friends four or more times a week during the summer Most of our other intershy

viewees were couples All of theones in their twenties and thirties told us stories of dating rituals in the canyon from first dates with large groups to engagement stoshyries in special places along the Provo River

ldquoThe oldest couple we intershyviewed who were in their eighties gave us a diff e rent perspective growing up on farms and working six days a week didnt give them much time to go up the canyon In

those days the cars werent always powershyful enough to climb the mountain roads and the roads themselves were either nonexistent or not very car-friendly Going to the Pro v o Canyon for recreational activities was a special t reat done with the family perhaps once a year

ldquoIn two generations the Provo Canyon went from a place that washard to reach and was only reached on special family occasions to a

dents and re c reational spot that es leading local teenagers use in a re in a difshy way that challenges the nd protect assumption that all oto Guha American teens just

want to hang out in mallsrdquo

Participants in this yearrsquos field school were Rachel Adams (Calishyfornia) Brenda Beza (California) Christina Bishop (Utah) Sharo n Carey (Virginia) Jan Harris (Utah) Andy Jorgensen (Idaho) DivyaKumar (Maryland) John Murphy (Utah) Amy Newman (Utah) Robyn Patterson (Utah) Lisa Powell (Kentucky) Heidi Spann(Utah) Steve Taylor (Pennsylvashynia) Jason Thompson (Utah) and Lisa Tolliver (New York)

Plans are underway for the Centerrsquos 2006 field school for culshytural documentation It will be held in partnership with Colorado College (the Centerrsquos partner forthe 1994 and 1995 field schools) in Colorado Springs CO The tentashytive dates for the course are July 16 through August 5 Updated inforshymation including course fees and application procedures will soon be available on the Center rsquo s Website

11

Recording Fish Tales A Field School Participantrsquos Experience

By Lisa Powell

Sitting on a woodenstool at the counter in Eddie Robinsonrsquos Fly Shop in Orem Utah listening to talk aboutfish caught on the Provo River I finally felt inconspicuous I had been sitting on that same stool for the past few days trying to make myself as invisible as possibledespite the notebook and pen in my hand camera around my neck and the microshyphone and cassette recorder that my partshyner and I kept ready between us We were gathering information about fly-fishing pracshytices and traditions on the Provo River and many of the fishershymen we spoke with d i rected us to this very counter Though we had arranged interviews with Mr Robinson and his staff we learned much by being ldquoshop ratsrdquo watchshying them tie flies and listening to their interactions with customers The f i s hermen w ho passed through the shop either knew orwanted to know the Provo and if they werenrsquot calling to each other across the river they were swapshyping data over the counter Thoughmy time in Provo was limited and my chances of ever knowing the river like they do were slim I still found their conversations intoxishycating I longed for a day when I would get to fish that river and stop by the shop with my own stoshyries to share

I spent time in the fly shop not only to learn about fishing but also

to learn and practice the process of cultural documentation As a parshyticipant in the American Folklife C e n t e r rsquos 2005 Field School for Cultural Documentation at Brig-ham Young University I was one of fifteen students dedicating thre e weeks to acquiring skills essentialfor doing ethnographic re s e a rc h and archiving Though I was very new to the study of folklore and the practice of documentation Icame to the field school with high expectations for what I would learn and do during the short time we were there

In April 2005 I had presented a paper on traditions and ritual in a small womenrsquos group at a folklore conference in Oregon I went to the

conference having had no training in anthro p o l o g y or f o l k l o re I had joinedthe panel at the suggestion of my social history professhysor In part because of a reflective spirit bro u g h t about by the then-re c e n t passing of Alan Dundes much conference discusshysion took on the questionof ldquowhat is folklore rdquo Being new to the field I realized I needed to explore this question moremyself As I listened to other conference particishypants describe the fieldshywork behind their studies I also rea l ized t ha t though my methods had not been unredeemable I had a lot to learn about ethnographic documentashytion W hen I fo und notice of the field school on the American Folklore Society Website I applied immediately

The field school promshyised to provide a concenshytrated dose of theory and practical training for colshy

lecting folklore By providing us with coursework and equipmenttraining followed by the opportushynity to do fieldwork and create a final display and presentation the field school would help me learn todo ethnography right I was particshyularly intrigued by the theme of the field schoolmdashldquoTradition Runs T h rough It Recreation and Enshyvironment in the Provo Canyonrdquo I would begin graduate school in American Studies in the fall and I hoped my own work would involve looking at national parks and public land use in the West The field schoolrsquos theme seemed perfect for exploring and learningapplicable methodology in context

The field school turned out to be

Folklife Center News

Amy Newman (l) and Lisa Powell flank Jack Roberts one of their field school informants during the opening of the exhibishytion created during the 2005 Field School for Cultural Documentation Lisa Powell is a graduate student in American Studies at the University of Texas Photo Guha Shankar Source American Folklife Center

12

all that I hoped for and more Our classes during the first half of the p rogram taught by instru c t o r s from the American Folklife Center and BYU introduced us both to general theory and practices in folklore and to specific information we would need to know to work in and around the Provo Canyon Our interactive sessions included learnshying to write fieldnotes planning and conducting productive intershyviews documentary photography archiving materials and ethics We practiced using analog sound re c o rding equipment and 35 mm cameras documenting each other and willing victims around the BYU campus We heard stories fro m those who lived and played in theP rovo Canyon area and we re c e i v e d useful information about the history and culture of the Utah Valley and Church of Latter Day Saints

We took our inaugural trip into the Provo Canyon in the middle of our first week at the field school Led by the director of the BYUarchives we stopped at places both popular and often passed by We e n t e red the grounds of a tiny power plant that looked surprisshyingly like a sanctuary its shady grove of trees and elegant buildshyings had once harbored a school to build young menrsquos character andknowledge of electricity We drove to the top of SquaPeak an elevated overlook where people build bonshyfires and local couples spend quiettime together We visited long-time residents of small communities tucked between the highway and

ldquoGenerally there is a cooperative effort among those who are really dedicated fishermen on the Provo because they love the place they value the environment they realize that itrsquos a fragile resource they do not take it for grantedrdquo mdash Stephen L Tanner field school informant P h o t o Guha Shankar S o u rc e American Folklife Center

the mountains and we explored a family nature retreat center near Robert Redfordrsquos Sundance resort The tour was a dizzying trip of winding roads both literal and figshyurative and we ended the evening with a cookout and bonfire Sittingby the fire looking up at the jagged top of the canyon meeting the starshyry sky while talking and singing and roasting sweet treats I couldeasily see why the canyon was such a magical place for so many people in the area

Though I learned much from theclasses practice sessions and disshycussions with the faculty it was the fieldwork that grounded their teachings in re a l i t y The faculty divided the students into five teams each focusing on a different aspect of Provo Canyonrsquos history and re c reational activities For someone who has watched ldquoA River Runs Through Itrdquo over two dozen times my assignment to the fly-fishing team was ideal Afterinitial readings and discussions we decided to explore the fly-fishshying community and sense of place on the Provo We contacted a numshyber of fishermen who had been p reliminarily interviewed before the start of the field school and we met informants while walkingalong the banks of the Provo with our faculty advisor These informshyants and the local knowledge of a member of my team guided ustoward the fly shop

Every interaction we had with a P rovo River fisherman both i n s p i red and humbled us Theypossessed amazing skill and intishymate knowledge of both a sportmdash perhaps better called an artmdashand a place For many fishing was an essential part of their family histoshyries we talked with a grandfather and grandson who both fished the Provo a father who was beginningto teach his baby girl to fish and a young man who had lost his own father at a young age but found his

life-long mentor in the man whotaught him to cast and tie flies For some fishing was an element of their daily livesmdashthey went out to fish on the Provo multiple timesper week Most spoke with revershyence for the Provo River and the fish that swim in it many also spoke of the history of human-induced changeon the river as the road through the canyon widened and more people came to fish both encroaching on the r i v e rrsquos natural course

In addition to investigating the traditions of Provo Canyon comshymunities we as field school particshyipants also constructed our own community The field school proshyvided a framework some might say ldquoexcuserdquo for the students facshyulty and staff of the program to putaside our typical daily concerns as we worked together to collect information and understand othshyers Members of the field school community who were local to the a rea opened their homes and shared their local knowledge helpshying those of us from out-of-town tonavigate the area and feel truly welcome We who stayed on-camshypus in the dormitories bonded over late nights typing field notes in the computer lab and telling stories f rom daily fieldwork as we brushed our teeth All of the field school participants brought their own unique backgrounds and experiences to the program and we learned much from working and playing together

In my first few months of gradshyuate school I have already drawn extensively on my field school experience I frequently refer to things I learned both in the classshyroom and in the field as I conshytribute to seminar discussions and Irsquove used the training in documenshytation to pursue my own research for term papers and ongoing projshyects I know that other field school participants are having similar experiences as I have also enjoyed the exchanges that have been part of the ongoing field school commushynity As I recall hanging out in thefly shop recording fish tales logshyging interview tapes talking around bonfires and seeing sunshylight sparkle on the Provo River Iknow I wonrsquot forget the lessons or the experiences from the field school anytime soon

Fall 2005 13

Mourning and Grief in Response toTerrorism AFC Staff MembersAddress a Symposium in Spain

A spontaneous shrine erected in response to the 2004 Madrid subway bombings Source Spanish Council for Scientific ResearchArchivo del Duelo

By Cristina Saacutenchez-Carretero Margaret Kruesi and Guha Shankar

On April 8 and 9 2005 cataloger Margaret Kruesi and folklife speshycialist Guha Shankar of the American Folklife Center (AFC) took part in a symposium in Mashydrid Spain entitled Ethnographic Archives and the Social Construction of Memory The symposium arose from a collaboration between the AFC and the Department of A n t h ropology at the Spanish Council for Scientific Researc h (CSIC) This partnership began shortly after CSIC staff implementshyed the project ldquoEl A rchivo del Duelordquo (The Archive of Mourning)

as a means of documenting and p reserving the spontaneous shrines that sprang up around Madrid soon after the attack on city train stations on March 11 2004 Sponshytaneous shrines which are created and maintained by ordinary peoshyple after accidents and disasters consist of personal objects artishyfacts text and artwork often left on display in public places They re p resent an important form of mourning and memorialization in modern Europe and America

One of the main goals of thesymposium was to fill the gap between ethnographic fieldwork and the procedures for archiving o rganizing and cataloging these unique materials The other was to

discuss the role of ethnographic a rchives in the construction of m e m o r y The symposium was structured in two sessions dedicatshyed to methodological issues with t h ree roundtables discussing ethnographic research projects andarchiving of primary source mateshyrials

The conference was funded by the Fundacioacuten de los Ferrocarriles Espantildeoles [Spanish Railways Foundation] (FFE) and CSIC It was co-organized by the departshyment of anthropology of CSIC andthe Historical Railway Archive of FFE and hosted by the latter at their headquarters a nineteenth-century palace next to the Atochatrain station More than a hundred


Dr Pilar Martinez Olmo (l) director of Spainrsquos Biblioteca de Filologiacutea (Library of Phililogy) shows artifacts to Kruesi and Shankar Source Spanish Council for Scientific Research

American Folklife C e n t e r Library of Congressrdquo described the history of the Archive of Folk Culshyture and some highshylights from its collecshytions The presenters focused on the AFCrsquos September 11 2001 Documentary Project from the initial call to send in materials docshyumenting experishyences of September 11 through pro c e s sshying to the work thatwent into making the digital collection availshyable through the Library of CongressrsquosAmerican Memory Website

Maggie Kru e s i emphasized that in

After the AFC session thre e roundtables addressed ongoing projects Friday afternoon was dedshyicated to discussions of a project to exhume Republican common graves from the Spanish Civil War Representatives of the project disshycussed the problems they are facshying in the recording of oral histoshyries from family members and surshyvivors during their exhumation field trips as well as the organizashytion and preservation of materialsThe first roundtable on Saturday morning ldquoThe Construction of Railway Workersrsquo Memoriesrdquo was dedicated to the Railway HistoricA rchive The last ro u n d t a b l e focused on ldquoEl Archivo del Duelordquo whose purpose is the documentashytion and analysis of mourningprocesses and the public memorialshyization of grief after the terrorist attacks This project was linked to the American Folklife Center at its inception because it was modeled in part on AFCrsquos September 11 2001 Documentary Collection In addition ldquoEl Archivo del Duelordquo has adapted AFC materials and m e t h o d o l o g y This collaboration has been very fruitful and the CSIC is continuing it as the archive isbeing processed and catalogued The collection includes appro x ishymately six thousand manuscripts including drawings letters and poems five hundred artifacts from T-shirts with graffiti to teddy bears fifty thousand digital messages deposited at the ldquocyber- s h r i n e s rdquoerected in the train stations and t h ree thousand digital photoshygraphs of the memorials and other demonstrations of mourning Thecollection is now closed except for the oral testimonies series which is still open The debate at this roundshytable posed questions re g a rd i n gthe specific challenges of this colshylection the possibility of its being used for political ends as well as practical issues including fund-raising

The contents of the roundtables workshop and the debates are accessible online at the Website of the symposium (h t t p w w w f f e e s archivoymemoria) The collaboration between AFC and the Archive of Mourning continues as the proshycessing and cataloging of these unique materials raise questions of interest to both parties

people attended the symposium f rom eight regions of Spain Attendees were mostly museum and archive professionals librarishyans and students The event was widely covered by the media reporters interviewed Shankar andKruesi and information about the c o n f e rence was broadcast on Spanish radio

The conference was opened bythe president of the Spanish Railway Foundation Carlos Zapatero and the vice president of the CSIC Montserrat Torneacute who stressed the importance of the colshylaboration between arc h i v i s t s museum and library specialists and ethnographers A f t e r w a rd s Felipe Criado national coordinator for the humanities and social scishyences of the CSIC presented the ldquo A rchive of Mourningrdquo pro j e c twith an agreement officially donatshying the objects deposited at the train stations after the March 11 attacks to the Archive of MourningThe first speaker Montserrat Iniesta an anthropologist who speshycializes in museums gave an overview of ethnographic collecshytions in Spain and Mario Cotterau from the Unit of Coordination of Libraries at CSIC presented on the archival collections at CSIC

The AFC session ldquoFro m Fieldwork to Ethnographic A r-chives The Experience of the

Fall 2005

ethnographic collecshytions documentation is typically undertaken in multiple formats (eg sound recodings photoshygraphs moving images and field-notes) All the materials pro v i d e context for all others this re f l e c t s the intentions of the ethnographshyercollector who collaborates with members of the community to genshyerate detailed contextual data She said materials are often fragile andcomplex and that they should be p rocessed described and catashyloged together She also highlighted cataloging tools now in developshyment that may be useful for pro v i dshying access to ethnographic materishyals Guha Shankar concluded the t h ree-hour session by discussingfieldwork and equipment used for documentation as well as best practices and standards for digital p reservation and reformatting Onepoint he emphasized was that re s e a rchers bear a responsibility to the communities they study and that they should there f o re ensurethe information they collect now will be usable in the future A m o n g other things that means staying a b reast of rapidly changing digitaltechnologies Shankar pointed out that fieldworkers have to be aware of the complex nature of documenshytation technologies but that develshyoping solid techniques and skills as interviewers photographers and re c o rdists was equally important

15

On October 27 members of the Centers Board of Trustees and staff visited writer Genevieve Chandler Peterkin Peterkin lives in the oldest house in Murrells Inlet South Carolina Her mother guided folklorist John Lomax when he made a fieldtrip to the area in the 1930s under the auspices of the Archive of American Folk-Song the AFCs preshycursor The visit was part of a tour of the area and its cultural resources led by Board member and local resident William Kinney (front row right in blue jacket) A regular meeting of the Board was held in Georgetown South Carolina on October 28 Photo Joanne Rasi Source American Folklife Center

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRESORTED STANDARD

AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER 101 INDEPENDENCE AVENUE SE

POSTAGE amp FEES PAID LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

WASHINGTON DC WASHINGTON DC 20540ndash4610 PERMIT No Gndash103

OFFICIAL BUSINESS PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE $300

ISSN 0149ndash6840 Catalog Card No 77ndash649628

Wersquove Come This Far by FaithAn African-American Family Reunion

Turns One Hundred

Librarian of Congress James H Billington dined with Vivian Hewitt who is a member of the reunion family a special collections librarian and a long-time acquaintance of Dr Billington Photo Stephen Winick Source American Folklife Center

By Stephen Winick

From August 4 to 7 2005 a team ofethnographers from the Library of C o n g ress was accorded the rare opportunity to attend and docushyment an African-American familyreunion that has been celebrated annually for a hundred years Started by freed slaves We s l e y Mauney John Wesley Roberts andEli Borders Roberts in 1906 the Roberts Borders Mauney Howell Briggs and Related Families re shyunion reached its century mark with the one hundredth reunion in 2005 The reunion was held in Charlotte and Shelby North Caroshylina and drew approximately fiveh u n d red family members to its various events The Library of

Fall 2005

Congress team attended four days of reunion events conducted intershyviews and gathered photographicaudio and video documentation that will enter the permanent colshylections of the A rchive of Folk Culture

The familyrsquos connections to the Library of Congress and the Amershyican Folklife Center (AFC) date back to the Local Legacies projectof 2000 for which individual memshybers of Congress suggested events and traditions in their districts to be documented for AFC by localresidents Representative Melvin L Watt who represents the twelfth district of North Carolina and serves as chair of the CongressionalBlack Caucus is a member of this extended family and originally

submitted documentation of the reunion in 2000 Remembering this connection reunion president JeanHumphrey invited the Librarian of Congress Dr James H Billington to give an address at their hunshydredth reunion Dr Billington inturn suggested that a team from the American Folklife Center acshycompany him to document the reunion The team consisted of folklorists Stephen Winick and Catherine Hiebert Kerst (re s p e cshytively writer-editor and archivist at AFC) writer-editor Josephus Nelshyson from the Office of the Librarshyian and audiovisual technician Jonathan Gold of AFC The team was aided in all its endeavors byreunion president Jean Humphrey who prevailed upon the committee

3

















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